Phantom 3P falls out of sky

Here is what the log looks like.
There is a voltage dip at 13v already in the 1st seconds of flight. According to log you took off at 63% i.e your battery was in a charged state of 2785mAh out of possible 4422mAh.
Check the altitude graph you will see you were climbing when power shut down.
You crashed 150meters from your home point. The Phantom fell from 100meteres down - must have made a big splash!
I've seen a lot of similar logs in last 2 to 3 months, not before - so can only assume this is a "bug" in one of the later updates.
You should provide DJI with the log DJIFlightRecord_2015-12-27_[08-41-01].txt that you posted. I believe they should replace it for free as taking off with 63% and crashing due to voltage at below 12v after only 1.30 minutes with a battery temp that is ok indicates there is an error in the software indicating 63% at start of flight. Battery was more like 15% full when you took off.

upload_2015-12-27_17-36-39.png
 
No, I know where it landed though. Its in about 7 foot of salt water. I have a buddy that scuba dives, might have him come over and look for it. What is it worth?

No idea what it is worth. I was just going to suggest you get the Fllight Data off of the aircraft.. If you do recover it, I would like to get my hands on it for a bit for some data recovery research. But, first you should make sure DJI will not do anything for you.
 
Im on a old firmware, will they still replace it?
Ive asked many on here for their experiences whether or not DJI will cover older firmware under warranty when they put out fixes with new firmware. I haven't got a lot of answers. A lot of people say that they will cover it still. The reason I asked is DJ I just put out the 1.6 firmware to address the faulty battery firmware 1.5.3
People using that firmware was experiencing this for a month or two birds falling out of the sky usually shortly after takeoff and some think that it's because you start with less than a full battery I've seen it happen to many and to myself on a fully fresh right before flight battery.nonetheless you should still send in a request and see if they can help you you might have to send in the controller so they can get your logs off that or email them logs off your device. Or maybe they already have access to that information via your cloud. I wouldn't give up and it any chance you could recover the bird you should. You need to give it a fresh water bath check the formum for instructions
 
I believe they should replace it for free as taking off with 63% and crashing due to voltage at below 12v after only 1.30 minutes with a battery temp that is ok indicates there is an error in the software indicating 63% at start of flight. Battery was more like 15% full when you took off.
How did you conclude that the battery was really at 15% on takeoff?
 
I'm not implying there is and hocus pocus going on here. But I do want all who reads this to know that, you can explain your situations to those of us on here and it won't really mean anything. But when it comes to describing what took place to DJI, it's a completely different story. You need to know that with the data that DJI gathers from your aircraft (a/c), they will in turn know exactly what took place. I mean it is as if they were standing right next to you when suffered your loss. I believe the only reason they ask you what took place, is so you won't question how it is they already know your results.

I have noticed there being some people who sent their a/c in being out of warranty with their a/c at a total loss. Some receive an email saying sorry there will be no warranty help available. Where as others with the same total loss are offered some 30-50% off the purchase price of a replacement a/c.
 
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Here is what the log looks like.
There is a voltage dip at 13v already in the 1st seconds of flight. According to log you took off at 63% i.e your battery was in a charged state of 2785mAh out of possible 4422mAh.
Check the altitude graph you will see you were climbing when power shut down.
You crashed 150meters from your home point. The Phantom fell from 100meteres down - must have made a big splash!
I've seen a lot of similar logs in last 2 to 3 months, not before - so can only assume this is a "bug" in one of the later updates.
You should provide DJI with the log DJIFlightRecord_2015-12-27_[08-41-01].txt that you posted. I believe they should replace it for free as taking off with 63% and crashing due to voltage at below 12v after only 1.30 minutes with a battery temp that is ok indicates there is an error in the software indicating 63% at start of flight. Battery was more like 15% full when you took off.

View attachment 38618

Nice work!
 
How did you conclude that the battery was really at 15% on takeoff?
I used two methods:
Coulomb counting - the log indicates the amps under CENTER_BATTERY.current
Then you convert to coulombs and add them up. I come up in that flight to 369mAh used.
The full capacity of the battery is 4422mAh (under CENTER_BATTERY.fullCapacity)
369/4422 = 8.3% battery at take off.
But this is assuming 0% battery when it shut downs - Probably around 5% to 7% left over before automatic shutdown to save the batteries-
Another method to calculate capacity used: Standard flight time of a full battery is around 18minutes or 1080 seconds to deplete a 4480mAh battery.
This flight was 1.30 minutes or 90 seconds. So thats equivalent 373 mAh or 8.3% of battery
 
The full capacity of the battery is 4422mAh (under CENTER_BATTERY.fullCapacity)
369/4422 = 8.3% battery at take off.
But this is assuming 0% battery when it shut downs - Probably around 5% to 7% left over before automatic shutdown to save the batteries
Perhaps I'm not understanding what you're saying. As far as I can tell, the battery was 63% charged when the Phantom was powered up. That can be easily confirmed by dividing the CENTER_BATTERY.currentCapacity by the CENTER_BATTERY.fullCapacity. 2785 / 4422 = 0.629.
 
I think he is saying the battery was actually at ~15% battery based on my flight time. The battery thought it was at 63%?
 
I think he is saying the battery was actually at ~15% battery based on my flight time. The battery thought it was at 63%?

Yes to both of these. The only thing the Phantom can check for is the battery voltage. Based on the voltage it estimates the capacity. The voltage of a used battery increases as it sits so it will trick the Phantom into an inaccurate state of charge. You can see this yourself if you fly a new pack and write down the voltage versus percent. Then you can use a voltmeter to check the battery right after flight and then maybe every 4 hours....

This is why I only fly with a recent fully charged battery and I check the battery voltage before takeoff and then I hover and check that the voltage is staying pretty much the same...if the battery percent reading is falsely high the voltage should drop rapidly under load...
 
The battery was in a partially discharged state when started. If it was stored for a long period in this state and then used, it is likely the software miscalculated the remaining capacity. This is a known defect and has caused lots of crashes on both P3 and Inspire 1. Average cell voltage at the end of the recorded data was 2.84 which is far below the operating range. The drone was flying on a critically low battery within seconds of taking off.

Do not fly batteries that have been kept in partially charged state without fully charging them first. And upgrade to the latest firmware.

OP, if your drone is in saltwater, it is fish food. Sorry. Contact DJI and they should at least give you a 30% discount on a new one.
 
All of you blow my mind and here is why......I am flabbergasted that some of you think it is a bad thing to want to fly with a battery with only 63% battery life at the start.....there is no way on this earth that we should have to recharge our battery back to 100% just to fly.....why do you guys insist on saying that it should have been a full battery when he started his flight.....IT WAS AT 63%!!!!! that should be more than ample battery for you to enjoy a flight....my phantom 2 vision I could fly for a good 10 minutes on 63% battery life...why is this new phantom 3 so much different?!?
 
All of you blow my mind and here is why......I am flabbergasted that some of you think it is a bad thing to want to fly with a battery with only 63% battery life at the start.....there is no way on this earth that we should have to recharge our battery back to 100% just to fly.....why do you guys insist on saying that it should have been a full battery when he started his flight.....IT WAS AT 63%!!!!! that should be more than ample battery for you to enjoy a flight....my phantom 2 vision I could fly for a good 10 minutes on 63% battery life...why is this new phantom 3 so much different?!?
"it is likely the software miscalculated the remaining capacity. This is a known defect and has caused lots of crashes on both P3 and Inspire 1."

Phantom 3P falls out of sky | Page 2 | DJI Phantom Forum
 
All of you blow my mind and here is why......I am flabbergasted that some of you think it is a bad thing to want to fly with a battery with only 63% battery life at the start.....there is no way on this earth that we should have to recharge our battery back to 100% just to fly.....why do you guys insist on saying that it should have been a full battery when he started his flight.....IT WAS AT 63%!!!!! that should be more than ample battery for you to enjoy a flight....my phantom 2 vision I could fly for a good 10 minutes on 63% battery life...why is this new phantom 3 so much different?!?
You have a lot to learn !! You might want to listen to the guts that have been flying these phantom 3 for awhile .
 
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